In the 14-year period of 2005 through 2018, canines killed 471 Americans. Pit bulls contributed to 66% (311) of these deaths. Combined, pit bulls and rottweilers contributed to 76% of the total recorded deaths. | More »

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Police Shoot Aggressive Pit Bull Three Times with 'Double-Ought' Buckshot

Survives Shot to the Head Mineral Wells, TX - A police officer was forced to shoot an aggressive pit bull multiple times with a shotgun after two pit bulls attacked Edward Lew while he was riding his bike. Mineral Wells Chief of Police Mike McAllester said the June 3 incident was not the first problem with pit bulls in the area. Though he said it was "typical" of the breed. "Anytime you have to shoot a dog three times with double-ought buckshot, that’s an indication of how vicious they are," he said.

"The officer heard dogs fighting (while he was there). When he arrived, another subject was swinging a shovel at the dog – it was the brindle pit bull."The dog turned toward the officer, he was 3 feet away and attacking."McAllester said the officer fired one round into the front of the dog’s head. The animal tried getting up and the officer fired again."The officer attempted to find the second dog, but couldn’t," the police chief said. "When he got back, the brindle dog was on his feet -- the officer fired again."This was not the first problem with pit bulls in that area."There is an ongoing problem with pit bulls," McAllester remarked. "We have had complaints."He added that dogs had been taken into custody and euthanized."Three months ago, we had a complaint from a woman who said dogs were killing her cats," he said, adding that officers took the dogs."That’s typical of this (breed)," he commented."Anytime you have to shoot a dog three times with double-ought buckshot, that’s an indication of how vicious they are," he said.

use a more powerful handgun;police usually carry 9mm which would take several shots to kill. if you use a .357 magnum loaded with hollow points, one shot will drop the dog where he stand and the hollow point bullets are best because they expand on impact causing extreme damage to the pit bull but being highly unlikely to pass through the dog’s body and harm someone innocent. a .357 mag will knock down a bear, it will drop a pit bull too. they’re not that expensive but they are loud; I highly recommend a .357 mag revolver because they are double action and sometimes if a dog has hold of one of your arms, if you can get one hand on the gun, you can fire it just by pulling the trigger. hope that helps.

It's refreshing to hear a police chief who hasn't been drinking the pit nutter kool-aid and isn't afraid to tell it like it is. Typical police protocol with pits is shoot first and worry about the paperwork later. Only when there's real danger of hurting a person in a densely populated area will they go for other methods first, like tasing.

My first thought was that police shotguns usually have an open choke, and with only 8 pieces of shot flying in a large pattern, (assuming an average 2 3/4" load) it's sometimes difficult to connect with vitals. But at just 3 feet? That dog should have gone down like a sack of potatoes.